Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Grace, Home Street Home, Mohan Samant : Paintings..and more

NEWS

Grace

(Photographer Prabuddha Dasgupta)

The Nazar Foundation, has collaborated with three gallery spaces and venues to bing a well deserved tribute to the legendary master photography artist, Prabuddha Dasgupta. Titled, ‘Grace’, the show will be displayed at three separate venues, the Visual arts Gallery, New Delhi, Open Palm Court Gallery, and Experimental Art Gallery, New Delhi.

This tribute is part of the main feature of the Delhi Photo Festival 2013 , which will commence on 27th September and on till 11th October 2013.

The show displays the paintings of Mohan Samant and an array of accompanying programs titled, ‘Echoes of a living loft’ with film screenings, photography and music to create an ambience of the artist’s loft where he created music and painting. The works on display reflect the whole range of subjects and styles he has explored over the years and depict a mix of traditional and contemporary art practices.

The show will be inaugurated by Pt. Ram Narayan, renowned sarangi artist on 10th October 2013 at 6:00 pm.

The Inbetweeners : In the Shadows in Tokyo and New Delhi

(A work on display at the show)

The Japan Foundation, New Delhi presents a unique solo photo exhibition of photographer Ishan Tankha. The show is titled, ‘The Inbetweeners : In the Shadows in Tokyo and New Delhi’.

The show which is also a part of Delhi Photo Festival showcases the intense captures of Ishan, a well known Indian photojournalist, and traces his journey as he captures the mood of the two cities, Delhi and Tokyo through a common man’s activities. The photographs work as his own monologue of experiences and observations of urban spaces and people.

The show is on view till 26th October 2013.

Home Street Home

Ojas Art, New Delhi presents a solo by young photographer Vicky Roy. The show titled, ‘Home Street Home’ displays monographs by Vicky and the show is a part of the Delhi Photo Festival 2013, commencing on 27th September 2013.

Hailing from humble beginnings Vicky’s inspiring story of grit never ceases to instill faith in struggling artists of all genre. Vicky’s works are primarily based on street photography, capturing the lives of the homeless and those who call the streets their home.

As part of the Delhi Photo Festival 2013, the Nazar Foundation a not-for-profit organization, will also be launching a debut book by the same title of the photography monographs of Vicky.

The show opens on 28th September 2013, between 6:00 pm to 10:30pm. The show is on view till the 13th October 2013.(News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

Art attack

A show by two artists hits out at the injustices in society

The angst of the working class best defines the art works titled ‘Shades of Darkness’ on show at Buddha Gallery, Greenix village, in Fort Kochi.

(Work at the show)

The artists, Baiju Neendoor and Prasadkumar K.S. who are jointly hosting the show are alumni of Raja Ravi Varma College of Fine Arts, Mavelikara, and have more than a decade of experience as artists, exhibiting solo and group shows across the country. Both had recently exhibited in a collateral show during the Kochi Muzuris Biennale. Prasadkumar’s works are in mixed media. His paper collages are detailed, made adroitly from “magazine bits”. ‘Relics’ is a mosaic of paper cuttings that expounds the narrative of decadence. The artist uses text effectively in his works in oil. Though the language used is grammatically incorrect, devoid of élan of the speakers of fluent English it communicates directly. ‘What for should we recite the national anthem?’ asks Prasadkumar in text further voicing his torment by writing—‘Am I a dead man? Because I am incapable to react to injustice.’

The artist says that he looks at life from the eyes of the “lower class, the marginalised people”, and that such questions arise in the minds of the have-nots. Some of his other diatribes written along with images are ‘Emerging Kerala, Eternal Follies’, ‘Rascal Rules’, ‘Equal Justice-Joke’. The scathing texts convey the cumulative anger of the artist at the injustices that he witnesses in daily life. Some of the other subjects that the collages deal with are housing dreams of the poor, distortion of truth via history, shaping environment to suit the greed of man.

(Work at the show)

In a diptych (part of a series of three) Prasadkumar makes a wonderful comparison between a work by KCS Panicker, from the ‘Birds and Symbols’ series, and his current day image of a dog. “I am accepting Panicker’s interpretation and simultaneously rejecting some aspects of it,” says the artist who has explored art history too through his work. But if Prasadkumar has given some leeway to the other aspects of class divide, Baiju Neendoor has intensified his narrative with strikingly honest images. His story telling is direct and scathing. His canvas is large and dark. Black, brown, red, russet in broad, heavy strokes draw out the life changing situations that the poor face.

“Ï break the chocolate beauty,” he says adding that “nobody writes the history of the marginalised people. So we have to tell that in pictures.” Baiju too uses text to hit out, using strongly the four letter word to spit out his torment.

His smaller works are “scribbles” of the research that went into the large works about the chaos in the lives of the poor. These scribbles in black make interesting frames. The single gentle picture in the exhibition is of his friend, a mild face amidst the churning lives of the working class. The show is on till the end of September.